Our Great Physician

Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?

As I was riding down the road a few days ago I was listening to a preacher over the radio. He was not a local preacher but he seemed sincere and you could tell that his love for the Lord was real, but as I listen to him he seemed very confused on the subject of healing. He was telling the radio audience that even though salvation was for today deliverance from demons and healing was not. I'm sorry to say that I do not agree with him and I find him in error concerning this. There are a lot of sincere born again Christians that do not believe in healing for today. Everybody reading this article might not agree with me when I say that he and a lot of Christians are in error but let me continue with my thoughts, my feelings, and observations about the subject. First off I believe the Bible when it says: "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever!" If Christ healed people and raised them from the dead when He was on earth, if Peter and Paul could pray for someone and they would be delivered then why is it not the same today as this preacher and some proclaim? My God is able and He will deliver the sick and the ones that are in bondage. I do not just believe in just some of the promises of God, but I believe in all of the promises.
I'm not only backing up what I believe by what the word of God says, but I have firsthand knowledge about the subject. In my life time I have saw people healed and set free by the wonderful power of God and it was no make believe thing that was staged to get people to come to church, it was real. The power came down. Yes there are counterfeits, like there is with anything, but if you are a true Christian you will not be deceived! Let me give you just a few examples of Our God at work in my life time. I was a witness to the following demonstrations of God's healing power and for ever more I will testify of it for his glory. Let The Redeemed Say So!
It was in the very early 1960's when I was going to a very small church called Taylor's Woods. I was around fifteen years of age. On one Sunday my grandfather was in church and he started to have a massive heart attack. He was turning blue in the face and gasping for air and there was no guessing what was happening. My Grandfather was just about gone when Brother Jack Baynard, who was the pastor at that time, left the pulpit and went back to the pew where my grandfather was and prayed for him to be healed in Jesus' Name and right away the color came back into his face and he started to breath normal. Within a matter of seconds he went from being almost dead to very much alive. I witnessed this and it was for real and you could feel the presence of God in that church! Let me say this, silver and gold Brother Baynard did not have much, but such as he did have he gave. What he gave that day cannot be bought for a price. The price was already paid on Calvary by our Savior. My grandfather lived for many a year after that.
In the mid 1960's I was very sick with a very painful ear infection and it just about had the best of me. I could not stand much more of it. I asked my father to pray for me because I knew what the Lord did for my grandfather. I had been going to church long enough to see many healings and the power of God. I also knew that my dad was close to the Lord. He was and still is the kind of man that prays and reads his Bible constantly. My dad came to my bedside and prayed for me. Well let me say this: Something happen and now I know He touched me and made me whole! I no longer had that pain and the next day I was like new. If my Jesus will do it for me He will do it for you. Put your trust as I did in the man from Galilee1 I no longer just witnessed people being healed, I was now in that group of people that could say "by His strips I was Healed!"
In the late 1960 my family and some friends of ours were at a small church one night to hear my father preach. After the preaching was over there was a alter call and people got in line to be prayed for. This one young girl around sixteen who I knew all my life was in the line and as she got closer to my father she started to foam at the mouth and then she started to talk in a man's voice. I did not know what to think. By the time that she got up to my dad she was trying to claw and scratch him but for some reason she could not claw him nor get anywhere near him and that reason was because dad was covered by the blood of the lamb. He had and still does have a close walk with the Lord. He reached out his hand and rebuked that demon that was in this girl and she fell to the floor rolling and foaming at the mouth. After she got up, which was quite a while later, she was in her right mind and free of that demon. She was a young lady that would not fake. Oh my friends yes there is power in that wonderful name of Jesus. I feel His presence so strong as I testify of these healings.
In the mid 1980's I was in a church service at my father's church where he is the pastor and we were having a evangelist speak that night. The evangelist was my brother. I was having real bad pains in my chest to the point that I was just about ready to get up and leave. That is how bad the pain was. I never told a soul, not even my wife. I was not making any kind of faces to let anyone know of my pain. At that time the evangelist walked up the middle of the church going to the pulpit and after he passed the row I was seated in he turn around and pointed at me. He then said in the name of Jesus Christ that pain in your chest is gone and it was gone just that quick. Now that was the Holy Ghost in action. He not only showed the evangelist my condition, but the power was also there to heal me. I can never thank God enough for the times that he has healed and delivered me. So once again I can testify: By His Strips I was Healed! Just a closer walk with my Master is all I want.
In the late 1980's or early 1990's my church went to a revival in a small town called Laurel, Delaware to hear a evangelist, who was a full blooded Indian preacher from somewhere in the south. His name was Richard Hall. After the preaching the preacher called out a man whose wife went to our church and told him that he had a hearing problem. This was so. The man did have a hearing problem but no one there knew of it except of our local church. Brother Hall did not know him. He was not wearing a hearing aid so the only way the evangelist could have known about the hearing problem is if the Lord revealed to him the problem. The evangelist prayed for this man and he was instantly healed and heard out of that ear till he went to be with the Lord years later. I witnessed this and it will forever be with me. Where the Spirit of The Lord is there is liberty!
I could tell of more healings that I witnessed but I think that I have gave you enough for you to see that Jesus is still in the healing business and He will heal you, because my Lord is no respecter of persons and what he has done for others he will do for you. Just have that faith as a grain of mustard seed and then let faith arise in your soul. It was never Our Lord's purpose and goal for us to live with diseases, sickness, and infirmities. They are the result of Satan and the wickedness and transgressions of man. Every time there is a healing from the Lord some of Satan's work is destroyed. In plain words there is both sin and sickness which comes from the devil or healing and forgiveness that comes from God Just as if we had sin in our life if we repent God will forgive us and it is the same way with sickness. God will heal us.
The controversy over the question of: "Is healing still for today" still is deeply debated and most often denied in our churches today. This is a shame. Most churches believe in salvation and being saved but not healing. They believe that healing is an untrue belief, a myth, or a misleading notion. Here is a thought for you to think about. When Jesus was on the earth He healed and saved many a person. The healings were accepted in most part by the church of that day, but not the forgiveness of sin. The church is just the opposite today. They believe in salvation for the soul but not physical healing. What happened to change all this? Is it because God does not love man today as He did in Bible times? Is it because that He made no conditions or ways for healing in today's world? Is it because the atonement has failed us in today's world? Is it because the promises of God are untrue? Heaven forbid no! "By His strips we are healed" Is it because prayer to our Lord is not the same as it ever was? Is it because God loves us less today? Is it because the Bible is not accurate? Think about all these questions that I have just put to you.
Here are my thoughts about the questions that I just asked. Most of the churches have changed. Notice that I said most of the churches. There are still some who stand on all the word of God. We still have some Peter and Paul's left that still uphold all the atonement and all the promises of God. Most churches refuse to carry on the gospel program that was started by Christ and promised to all believers down through the ages. We must have churches that will preach a healing message so that faith can rise in your soul. We must be believers' and not unbelievers of the word.
I want to give you this illustration. I'm an electrician by trade. I can wire a house for electric so you can have the things that you need in today's world. Things like the microwave, lights, hot water, air conditioning, TV, dishwasher, and many other modern conveniences, but if the electric company does not hook up to my electric wiring and make the connection, if you deny them the right to give you the power, when you throw the switch nothing will work. You will have nothing. Everything is there but the power. If you have the power from the electric company then everything will work when it is needed. That is the same way in the most of our churches today. Everything is in place but the power. We have a power outage in most of our churches! There is an outward appearance and a form of Godliness, but they deny and reject the power and authority from on high. It is the same thing as sitting in your house with all the conveniences named above but no power to operate them. It looks like you have everything, but you don't. Personally I want everything that God has for me. Just as I want the power to work in my house when it is needed, I want to go to a church where the power of God is manifested and is very clearly at work as it should be! It makes no difference if it is three members or three hundred members as long as Christ my Lord is there!